Fleetwick's disappearance did not have an immediate effect, which is why I arranged it on Friday. And then came the weekend, when it is much more difficult to keep track of students, because even first-years are allowed to go to Hogsmeade. Moreover, the half-goblin was a Ravenclaw, who were known for being somewhat eccentric and, due to their experiences, could skip breakfast, lunch and dinner in the Great Hall on weekends, making do with food brought to them by house-elves.
They noticed on Sunday evening, but didn't panic — our dean was very concerned, and even seemed to have gone to see Dippet. But... the fact that the green-skinned spy might have had some business of his own and that a brief absence was generally expected played a role here, so the director somehow convinced the dean to calm down. But when Flitwick didn't show up for class on Monday, the administration started to panic.
"Who's missing?
"Flitwick, our first-year student, such a talented young man, although a little... you know, he gives me the chills," our head girl shared the information.
"Thanks for the information, Emilia. And you know... (here I pretend to hesitate), I haven't seen him... I definitely didn't see him on Saturday, and our dean was looking for him on Sunday and seemed... concerned. It seems like he even went to the director. But I didn't think he was missing or anything — I thought maybe he did something stupid or got into trouble, and now Aver is looking for him to give him a good talking-to and make him do extra work.
"On Saturday, you say... You know, I'll go ask around, something about this story doesn't sit right with me. Think about it — a freshman goes missing on Sunday, if not Saturday, and the alarmed Dean Malfoy goes to Director Dippet. And instead of organising a search, he somehow calms our dean down, although it's now clear... that nothing is clear. Why on earth didn't Dippet raise the alarm? Why and how did he pressure the dean not to organise a search himself?
"I hadn't thought of it that way," I say slowly, showing my admiration for my interlocutor's intelligence, " it does seem suspicious... I wouldn't be surprised if Dippet deliberately stalled for time so that our faculty could then... Well, I don't know — discredit him, perhaps.
I don't know what Emilia Lissi told our dean, but he called in the Aurors to search for us. The Ministry's mercenaries* may not have been popular, and the Hogwarts administration may have had immunity from the Ministry... But the deans also had certain rights — strictly speaking, no greater than those of the headmaster. And Aver Malfoy took advantage of them.
And what else could he do? A Ravenclaw student had disappeared, and instead of searching for him, the headmaster was playing some kind of dirty game. It wouldn't be long before he got himself into trouble for dereliction of duty, breaking the Oaths, and causing problems for the entire Malfoy family...
The headmaster would probably have come up with something like that himself, but... he didn't have time. During lunch in the Great Hall, there was the sound of clear footsteps — deliberately loud, as Aurors loved such "special effects."
"Whoosh!" The large doors swung open and a team of ten authors entered.
"Who...," Dipett stood up, enraged.
"I invited them!" Malfoy stood up, Filius Flitwick's student had disappeared, as you were informed. In response, I received orders to "not worry" and vague excuses. To my shame, I listened to them, but now I realise that I shouldn't have — the boy never showed up today.
Dippet's face turned grey. What happened will hurt his reputation, because trying to "cover up" the disappearance of a student is bad enough, but trying to "put pressure" on the dean of the faculty, and what's more, in an illiterate manner... "Akela missed the mark."
"Who's in charge?" Malfoy asked dryly, rising from the table and approaching the Aurors. "Lupus Babbage," introduced himself a thin man with an unpleasant, harsh face, smelling like a warehouse full of artefacts, "let's go to the student's bedroom first.
Lunch was ruined: events like this don't happen every year. What am I saying, not every decade! And if the disappearance of a student is a matter of general... not exactly routine, but something that has happened before... Just like the visit of the Aurors, the dark wizards, the inexpressibles. So, the student's bedroom, that is, the mercenaries were allowed into the Holy of Holies — the Tower of Ravens...
"Goo!" the students buzzed.
"... he's gone...
"... such a... first-year student...
"... with unpleasant eyes... Aurors...
"To the bedroom!
"I don't like it either, but the dean is right!" Our faculty representative stood up for Aver. If the situation had been reported to Director Dippet and he had reacted "incorrectly," then we had to act quickly and decisively. I would have called the Unspeakables, of course, but it would take time to get to them, and we couldn't waste any time.
"We can call the Unspeakables," disagreed fifth-year representative John Miley with Jacob Geller, "there are ways to approach them.
"Maybe you have them, but he doesn't or didn't in this case, we don't know the details," Jacob objected.
"I can't argue with that, we really are only aware of the basics...
The crowd heads to the tower right after lunch, but the authors stop us at the entrance...
"Please wait, gentlemen. Investigative work is currently underway with the help of delicate artefacts, and several dozen nervous young people could disrupt the settings.
"But can you at least let the elders through?" I show my leadership qualities. The Aurors think about it and reluctantly let us through, while the elders try not to show how my seizure of power has affected them. They let me through too, although Jacob mutters something dissatisfied under his breath.
The Aurors wandered around the Main Hall**, laden with garlands of artefacts.
"Seven to the left," we heard phrases that were incomprehensible to us from time to time.
"Accepted. Point Zero on the singularity curve.
"Two to the left.
"Accepted. Nothing to read, the source is nearby.
"Bamb, do you feel anything?" a comrade asked an elderly auror frozen in a mediumistic trance.
"A goblin. But that can't be, because it can never be.
"It's a goblin, Mr. Babbage," a young mercenary bursts out of Flitwick's bedroom, " I'll bet my balls it's a goblin! Or maybe some half-breed...," the young man tones it down a little, just in case.
We exchange glances... and Emilia Lissi quietly leaves — the information that Flitwick has some connection to goblins must be spread immediately. You never know, with the Oblivites and the Obates there... And with our headmistress, you're stuck with her no matter what — even if she's just a recognised bastard... But the Lissi family is Scottish, and mountain Scottish at that, not dependent on the Ministry or the goblins, and she only has one year left to study and a fiancé in Ireland. In short, it's bad news for the green-skinned and for Dippet, whom few of the pure-bloods like. They respect him as a powerful wizard, but they don't like him.
Lupus Babbage did not come to his senses immediately...
"You must understand that what you have heard..." he began sternly.
"Boss, there was another girl here a couple of minutes ago," squeaked the young man who had divulged the information.
The grinding of his boss's teeth could probably be heard by everyone.
"I'll need a drink to recover," I thought to myself.
You have to give credit where credit is due — Babby opened the door immediately, listened to the discussion...
"Filius is a goblin...
"A spy...
... he assessed the sharply reduced number of "Ravens" in front of the door... and closed it with a completely black face. The end of his career? Definitely — it was a spectacular failure, and I wouldn't be surprised if that "youngster" and the medium were simply killed for such "blunders." The code among mercenaries is cruel. Pity? Not a bit, they're MERCENARIES, and Ministry ones at that, not relatively decent "freelance mercenaries."
Within an hour, everyone at the school knew that Filius Flitwick was a goblin and had been spying at Hogwarts. Owls flew off to their destinations thick and fast, and then more and more... Classes were completely disrupted that day — first the Aurors arrived, then the Unspeakables and the Dark Wizards. They roamed the castle, asking lots of questions, many of which were very uncomfortable.
"How did they take blood using the Minor Oath?" an Unspeakable jumps up.
"The headmaster's orders," stammered Rosie Fox, and she left with the Dark Wizards through the fireplace to "find out."
Violations were also found in the case of Gryffindor Dean Selvin Malis, who was removed from both the dean's office and teaching.
They suspended teacher DADA Francis Malis, but in his case it was not so much violations as his foul character. He may have been a good specialist, but he had a very "dirty" mouth and was not too shy in his expressions. Well, he got himself into trouble... According to the girls, Malice, irritated by the fuss, lost his temper when asked another question by another dark wizard and said a lot of unnecessary things. Well... just to be on the safe side.
Silvanus Kettleburn was dismissed, but this was already a tradition — the UZMS teacher was the only professor who could not pass the probationary period. He was an excellent specialist, but too enthusiastic — and that's why he suffered. Apparently, they found quite a few rare animals in his possession that had no place in the School. But even the most unemotional of the arresting officers rolled their eyes and treated Silvanus like an old friend. Yes, he may have been a rare slacker, but as the best specialist on the Island, he was constantly involved in various projects, and at the same time, he was granted amnesty for his past sins.
But flight instructor Roland Grass was arrested in earnest and with great fanfare. During the first superficial interrogation by the mentalist, it became clear that Grass was a great lover of young girls and Obliviators.
"Castrate him," all the faculties decided unanimously and harshly, declaring him an enemy of Hogwarts. And even though it later turned out that the objects of his "courtship" were only Muggle-borns, this did not absolve him of guilt — according to the Old Laws, this was a crime for which the entire family could be exterminated. Roland was hastily cut off from the Grass family, and now the members of the family were going to seek out the victims to pay Viru. The family was rich, but it was clear that their safes would be emptied, and they would be lucky if they didn't have to move somewhere like Argentina.
Dumbledore's nerves were also frayed — there was a lot of "mutiny" around him. But he got off lightly, and what's more, the red-bearded man was temporarily appointed acting dean of Gryffindor. But he was immediately removed (before he could be confirmed) after loud whispers from Aver Malfoy...
"Dick, are you crazy?!" he hissed at the ministerial official, "He was accused of sodomy!"
The topic of Dumbledore's sodomy was raised again... And the notorious Dick (as it turned out much later) thanked Malfoy. Not only did the official almost push a questionable character into the position of dean, but he also had no right to do so...
"How could I have been so blind," Dick lamented, "I spoke to Dippet and almost did something stupid. No, no, I've been tested for mentalism, no interference, no potions either..." The Ministry couldn't appoint him to the position of dean, but... There were a lot of options for what to do next, and they were all extremely dubious and unpleasant for Hogwarts and the official himself.
The searches and nervous tension continued until the end of the week, so normal classes had to be forgotten. The prefects and senior students took care of the students, just to keep the children busy and out of trouble at school.
I was jubilant... I don't know how things will turn out in the future, but Flitwick is destroyed, Dumbledore's reputation has been dealt another blow, and I highly doubt that he will now be appointed dean, let alone headmaster. At least not in the next few years. And the group of pure-bloods who opposed the goblins and the Ministry came out on top. There weren't many of them, but it was these Rodas who ruled the Inquisitors and the Dark Wizards.
And most importantly, the sending of unprepared English wizards from pure-blood families to Grindelwald for slaughter has been suspended. I won the first round.
Ministry mercenaries*" In "Llewellyn," I already said that the Aurors are just mercenaries working for the Ministry, not "something like the police." There is no police as such in the Wizarding World — ordinary crimes are dealt with by the Rods and Clans concerned, while crimes such as "Beast Invasions" or "Particularly Terrible Curses" are dealt with by the Ministry. Dark Hunters (something like a magical special forces unit operating as a "professional militia" (i.e., most of them have other professions) and consisting mainly of aristocrats) or the Unspeakables.
The Main Living Room**" I remind you that there is more than one living room in each faculty. Judge for yourselves - in Gryffindor, even according to the canon, there are a hell of a lot of people, so where are they all supposed to go? If they are all in one room, it will be a real bazaar. According to my logic, there is a Main Common Room, separate common rooms for boys and girls (with no access for the opposite sex), and three to five "specialised" rooms. One is for tea parties, another is for classes (with a small library), and the third is for board games, etc.
***
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